AWKWARD POSITION. 199 



Gaelic " procahs," which frequently continue in the 

 company of hinds when no good stags are in attend- 

 ance. 



By degrees, however, all signs of their presence 

 disappeared ; the herd had apparently fed away to a 

 distance, and it was now for us to follow in case their 

 new position should allow a nearer approach. But to 

 make assurance doubly sure we delayed a few minutes 

 longer, that nothing might be lost through precipitation : 

 and then rising to our full height, and carefully looking 

 in every direction with our glasses, that no eyes should 

 be watching us unobserved, we started for the rising 

 ground, behind which they had just disappeared. A 

 slight hollow intervened between us and the position 

 for which we were making. This hollow was a peat 

 bog, still very wet, but owing to the recent dry 

 weather, fortunately passable. We began to cross it, 

 still anxiously looking about us, when just as we had 

 reached about the middle of it, a deer's back again 

 appeared above the horizon. Here then was an awkward 

 situation a herd of deer within two hundred yards, 

 retreat or advance impossible from the open nature 

 of the ground, and though in the middle of a bog, no 

 alternative but to fling ourselves at once upon our 

 faces, notwithstanding its unpleasant dampness. The 

 deer-stalker must be prepared for every emergency, 

 and we at once dropped to the earth, contriving with 

 difficulty to keep our powder and rifles dry. The hind 

 continued feeding, presently another became visible, 

 and another ; until at length we had seen in all more 

 than a score of deer, two of them being young stage. 

 Wet and cold, we remained motionless for the space of 

 nearly an hour, when one by one they all lay down, 

 some having their backs towards us, and most of them 

 only visible to the neck ; but one wary hind, evidently a 



